Pratyusha not depressed or pregnant, say friends

Mumbai: Late TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee was unhappy in her personal life, but wanted to marry and have a family of her own, her friends and colleagues from the industry said at a press conference on Monday.

Her friends and co-workers including Kamya Punjabi, Vikas Gupta and Adah Khan discussed possible reasons for Banerjee’s suicide. She was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her home on Friday.

Her friends pointed to Banerjee’s relationship with her boyfriend, Rahul Raj Singh, as a cause of stress, but said reports that she was pregnant are likely to be untrue.

TV show producer Vikas Gupta, who had recently offered a role to Banergee, said she was not at all depressed.

“She was doing very well professionally. She had no shortage of work, she had earned a lot of money and her money was taken care of by Rahul. She was not in depression at all. The only problem was she was in a disturbed relationship,” Gupta said.

Gupta also claimed that Singh “physically assaulted” the 24-year-old actress in “public”.

“He had raised his hand on her and we have proof of it. It was not a great relationship. Unfortunately, we have not been called by the police to record our statements,” he added.

A woman called Leena, identifying herself as a close friend of Banerjee, said the actress had called her on Thursday night, and said Banerjee was “disturbed” by Singh’s former girlfriend.

“Prior to the day she committed suicide, she called me at 3am, and she was crying very badly. She said, ‘I can’t live my life like this, and I want to come out of it’. She said she wants to fight back and wanted to come out of it. She just wanted to get married to Rahul and have a child, this was her plan,” Leena said.

Leena added that Singh’s former girlfriend “used to torture her [Banerjee]”.

Actress Kamya Punjabi asserted that Singh was cheating on her.

“Pratyusha had told me, ‘Rahul is cheating on me, what should I do?’ She didn’t want to give up on this relationship and wanted this to work,” Punjabi said.

It has been reported that Banerjee’s postmortem report has hinted at signs of early pregnancy, although full results from the autopsy have not been announced. A preliminary autopsy on Saturday evening indicated death due to asphyxiation and hanging.

“If she was pregnant, she would have been alive today,” said Gupta. “She wanted to be a mother. Let the medical report come, then let’s see.”